11 September 2004

It was revealed that the Queen was so touched by the deaths of the children of Beslan in the school siege tragedy that she had personally donated money to the British Red Cross appeal.

"We got the donation from the Queen today," a British Red Cross spokeswoman said Tuesday. She gave an undisclosed sum to the charity's crisis appeal which will support survivors and families of those that died in the horrific terrorist attack in North Ossetia, the organisation said.

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman commented, "Yes, it's true. The Queen personally donated money. In fact, she does a lot of good work for charity but really doesn't like to talk about it. That's why she employs people like me to talk about it on her behalf.".

Although the organisation and palace did not disclose the value of the donation, the palace spokeswoman confirmed that it was 'sizeable' adding that it looked to be 'quite shiny and septagonal in shape'.

Asked if the Queen regularly donates to similar causes, the spokeswoman replied, "Yes, unless the children were killed by British troops of course, in which case her job is to give medals to the soldiers for their hard work in difficult circumstances".